Events at CERGE-EI

If you want to learn more about how various advanced mathematical tools are used in theoretical economics, you are cordially invited to a lecture by three CERGE‑EI researchers:

Marek Kapička: Optimal Tax Rules for Distorted Production Networks
Production organized through input-output networks with varying market power creates significant tax distortions. This lecture addresses the challenges of using linear taxes for financing government consumption and the trade-off between correcting inefficiencies and generating revenue.
Key topics include optimal tax structures with subsidies for intermediate goods to mitigate distortions from markups and commodity taxes, as well as the impact of lacking intermediate input taxes on optimal commodity taxes. A quantitative analysis calibrated to the US economy will illustrate effective tax reforms.

Ctirad Slavík: Distributional Consequences of Government Purchases
Changes in the size and composition of government purchases influence economic distribution, especially with rising military spending and inequalities. This analysis employs an enhanced heterogeneous-agent macroeconomic model with multiple sectors and skill heterogeneity.
Two scenarios are examined: (1) an increase in government purchases and (2) a rise in military spending, both funded by non-distortionary taxes. The results show that the multiplier for government purchases (0.7) exceeds that for military spending (0.6), disproportionately affecting low-skilled workers. When financed by distortionary taxes, the multipliers decline and the distributional impacts reverse.

Konuray Mutluer: Influence Motivated Communication
I study strategic communication by an expert who is motivated by influence: she values her advice being followed as an end in itself. I find that this expert behaves as if she could ex-ante commit to an advice strategy. The listener’s informedness determines the direction of causality in communication: as the listener becomes more informed, the expert stops being an "opinion leader" and becomes a "follower". The listener gains the most from advice when she is neither too ignorant nor too informed.